During a recent visit to The American Legion headquarters here, U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., said that the maintenance of high quality health care for veterans is at the very top of his list of priorities. Within a week, Filner, who is chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, has demonstrated his advocacy and response to Legion concerns by introducing legislation long championed by the Legion that would materially aid Medicare-eligible vets.
Under the terms of Filner’s bill, H.R. 3365 – the Medicare Reimbursement Act of 2009 – veterans with non-service connected injuries, illnesses and conditions would be allowed to use their earned Medicare benefits to receive care and services from Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities. Currently, VA is barred from billing Medicare.
“Because VA cannot bill Medicare, elderly veterans are unable to use their Medicare benefits, even if they may prefer to receive care at a VA facility among their fellow veterans,” Chairman Filner said. “So for those veterans, they basically forgo the hard-earned dollars that they contributed towards Medicare benefits during their working years. H.R. 3365 is an important bill that would allow elderly veterans to access both VA health care and their Medicare benefits.”